Lighthouses
by 0x0xLOVE and WARx0x0
Summary: Light-house: a structure as a tower with a powerful light that gives a continuous or intermittent signal to navigators. See beacon. Bea-con: a source of light or inspiration.


**Author's Note:** _Hello :] So this is something I've been working on for a while. I always thought drabbles would be a fun thing to do and so I went around hunting down words to use and eventually stumbled about some icontest community on livejournal, grabbed fifty words and tried it out. It didn't entirely work. As it turned out, I ended up with little plotlings instead - some just one sentence, others whole paragraphs - but none reaching one hundred words. Honestly though, I like these a lot better than any one hundred word drabbles I could have come up with. :] So here you are. Enjoy. There may be more soon - I have fifty more words waiting for me. Comments are highly appreciated! :] _

**Disclaimer: **_I do not own anything involved or concerned with Narnia._

* * *

Main Entry: light-house.

Function: _noun_

**1 : **a structure (as a tower) with a powerful light that gives a continuous or intermittent signal to navigators.

**2 : **see beacon.

Main Entry: bea-con.

Function: _noun_

**1 :** a signal fire commonly on a hill, tower, or pole.

**2 : a :** a lighthouse or other signal for guidance **b :** a radio transmitter emitting signals for guidance of aircraft.

**3 :** a source of light or inspiration.

* * *

**Lighthouses **||** Part I**

_By Fig_

* * *

01. _Prologue_

Peter watched them – watched them with a careful and knowing eye – knowing and dreading the moment in which their mother would gather them all together and tell them, tell them they too would be going away, just like all the others.

02. _Doubt_

"Do not ever doubt it, my king. You are here for a reason."

03._ Tell Me_

"Tell me, Ed. Tell me what happened. It's the only way you'll ever feel better. It's the only way I can help you. Please, tell me."

04. _Scream_

Her hand clenched the bedpost fiercely as a sudden scream shattered the evening air. She sighed, her hand trembling just slightly, as she straightened her skirts. The scream echoed through the air again and she felt her heart break. She couldn't go to him, she mustn't. It was high time he learned to fend off whatever demons held him for himself, that's what they'd agreed on. But already she could hear the adjacent door slamming open and running feet rushing down the hall. She sighed again, shakily, and reached for her own doorknob.

05. _Touched_

He staggered backwards, wide eyes full of alarm and terror. Her eyes widened as well, but it was too late. He stiffened as he slowly collected himself and walked swiftly from the room. As he left, her hand rose slowly to her cheek and she wondered briefly, 'what have I become?' She didn't know that this very question was the same which was coursing through his mind as he tore up the stairs, although _he_ quite knew the answer; he had known for quite some time, too shocked to allow the idea to settle..until now.

06. _Suspect_

Susan had always suspected, but Lucy had always just known.

07. _Eve_

And then one day, she found she couldn't even recall her own mother's name.

08. _Stay_

"Stay," he gasped, reaching for her arm, "Please…Please don't go."

09. _Meet Again_

And they'd always meet again in his dreams, no matter how desperately he wished they wouldn't.

10. _Gravity_

And then gravity caught up with her, and suddenly she found herself lying flat on the ground – quite sore – watching as her dimwitted Horse galloped on without her.

11._ White Out _

"Do you mean to tell me Edmund is out in this weather? Is he mad?"

Susan shrugged limply, offering little excuse for her younger brother's irrational behavior, "He was upset.."

"Then he ought to have come to one of us."

"I don't think it's that simple, Peter."

12. _A Vision_

"No, no, no!" Scarred hands raked through dark hair as he held his eyes very tightly closed, trying desperately to escape whatever nightmare he'd allowed himself to fall into.

13. _Chaos_

Sometimes she wondered if her brother got a little lost in it all.

14. _Promise_

And it was for that simple reason that Peter was now offering up a perfectly good opportunity to fight – something he was probably just aching to do at the moment. Not because he was better, but merely because Peter'd promised. And Peter simply wasn't the sort to break promises.

15. _Sacrifice_

Because no one else would understand just what the word meant.

16. _The Crying Game_

He stood there and he watched as she slowly cried herself to sleep. And he found himself wondering – absently, detachedly - was this how it had felt all those years ago, when she had done the very same for him?

17. _At the Bottom of Everything_

And that was when I knew he'd reached the bottom.

18. _Clocks_

That was the curious thing about Lucy, he mused. No matter how much time had passed – no matter how much older she got – her personality never seemed to change. She was always just.. Lucy.

19. _Daylight_

As much as he hated the night – with the tossing and turning and general lack of sleep and peace – he very nearly hated the daylight more. Although it made him feel a good deal safer – he didn't have to worry about what might be lurking around every shadowy corner – there was almost too much to see during the day. He'd almost sooner be blind. Almost.

20. _Warning Sign_

He shot up in bed, his eyes searching the room wildly, almost desperately. They did not find what they were looking for. He pulled himself out of bed and had nearly reached the door when he realized that he wasn't where he thought he was. This was not his room at home. This was not even his secondary school dormitory. This was a university dorm. That was his new classmate sleeping across the way. He wasn't here. He wasn't here, but Peter knew that he was in trouble. And Peter knew that he had no way to help him.

21. _A Rush of Blood to the Head_

Peter suddenly felt hot heat rush to his face, "I never – never said that."

"Oh yes you did, Peter! You were just saying the other night that you'd like to –"

Peter's hand came quickly over Lucy's mouth then as he irritatedly shoved her out of the way – his face quite flushed by this point – and Edmund very nearly fell over from laughing so hard.

22. _Heavy_

His limbs felt heavy as he walked laboriously through the Cair's brilliant halls. He shouldn't be out of bed, he knew. But he couldn't help himself. He had to see it for himself.

23. _Shine_

And so he sat there beneath the shine of the sun, his fist in his mouth, trying very hard not to cry.

24. _Run_

He ran blindly through the woods, branches and thorns snagging on his school blazer and scratching his bare hands.

25. _The World I Know_

The world I know is not the world I live in, but rather the world I left behind and the world I will return to, in the end.

26. _Listen_

He lay awake, quietly listening to the nighttime sounds of the ship – the creaking, the hard, quick footsteps overhead, and another sound. A new sound. One he wasn't quite sure how to take in.

27. _Resurrection_

"It's not that he never _allowed_ us to go with him, it's just that we never _asked_."

28. _One Last Time_

And then Lucy took his hand and held it tightly, and Edmund barely had time to wonder what she knew that he didn't before bright lights filled his vision and the only sound he could hear was a quiet nothingness.

29. _We Might As Well Be Strangers_

"We might as well be strangers," he spits, anger and frustration shaking his entire being, "because I don't know you at all anymore."

30. _Your Eyes Open_

And then her eyes opened and Peter could've – and perhaps would've had he thought it wouldn't frighten her – cried from pure happiness and relief.

31. _Can't Stop Now_

He was tired and he was sore but he was also very, very certain that to stop now would be an action born of stupidity.

32. _I Was Never Born_

"Sometimes I wish I was never born…because, if I'd never been born, than none of those awful things would have ever happened. No one would have gotten hurt. No one would've died. Sometimes I think the world would have been better that way."

33. _Change Your Mind_

"Well, if you change your mind, we'd love to have you. They haven't forgotten you, you know. He hasn't forgotten you."

34. _Midnight Show_

"Are they at it again?"

"Oh, yes. Third time this week."

"You'd think they'd tire of it eventually."

Susan laughed, "Oh, no. They won't stop until one of them is dead."

"You really think they'd kill each other?" Her lady in waiting asked, her expression suddenly concerned.

"Oh, no! _No_! Of course not! They'll certainly make it out that way though."

"Have you any idea why they're fighting this time?"

"Oh, Aslan only knows. Although I've heard rumours that Edmund slipped honey into Peter's tea again."

35. _Epilogue_

And Susan cradled her youngest brother, much as she had done many years ago – on a sunny battlefield in the heat of summer. This time, however, she knew there would be no sudden coughing. No flickering of the eyes. No slight laughter, no tired smiles. He wouldn't be coming back this time.

36. _Forgiveness_

"Do you forgive me?" He whispered at last, eyes only barely meeting hers.

She smiled, immediately warming the air and melting the tension between them, "Of course! But then again, I never thought you'd done anything you needed forgiving for."

37. _Soft_

Her hands had been soft the last time she'd done this. In fact, they'd always been soft. Until now. Now they were hard and foreign, unfamiliar. Strange. They weren't her hands.

38. _Are You There?_

"Edmund. Would you tell me your story?"

39. _Hold My Hand_

She reached for his hand, felt it stiffen slightly and then relax and in that, she knew how much he'd truly changed.

40. _Misery Loves Company_

Although neither of the four Pevensies particularly enjoyed being ill, it always made everything a bit better if there were at least two of them feeling, shall we say, under the weather.

41. _Take Your Time_

"No," she whispered, "Sleep. You don't need to tell me now." He nodded slowly, eyes already slipping closed as he faded into an exhausted slumber.

"All in good time, brother," she murmured, "All in good time."

42. _Walls_

She built walls about herself, each with a small sliver of light shining in through the smallest crack at the seams. All, that is, except for the one she held her back to. The one which she forever kept dark.

43. _Spellbinding_

She was spellbinding, beautiful. He couldn't find another word for it. And yet, as he looked upon her beautiful face, he couldn't seem to quiet the nagging voice in the back of his head.

44. _Whisper_

He can hear their whispered words and they sting, like whip lashes across his back.

45. _Awkward_

And then he looked at her and she looked at him, neither uttering so much as a word, until the tension finally became too much and he mumbled an apology and fled the room.

46. _Goofing Off_

It was moments such as these, the old courtier mused, that forced them to remember that they were only children after all.

47. _Revolt_

And suddenly Peter was on top of him, his sword pressed tightly to his throat, "You even think of touching my brother, I won't even consider showing you this kind of mercy again."

He laughed, bitter and without humour, "No, you touch him, I'll kill you myself."

48. _Façade_

Although he certainly didn't approve of it, unlike Lucy and Peter – who couldn't even begin to fathom why Susan went through such efforts to change herself – he understood it all quite well. After all, he'd learned quite early on that it was much easier to put on a face and pretend everything was alright than to fall to your knees and admit that everything was all wrong.

49. _Relapse_

He stepped away, shaking. It'd been coming, he knew, for weeks. But he'd been suppressing it – pushing it back into the very depths of his soul. But this, this must have been too much. Too much and then he'd gone and he'd done it, and he couldn't take it back. No matter how hard he would try.

50. _Stained_

He fingered the stained velvet and made a firm vow that never again would he allow such blood to be shed.

* * *

I hope you all enjoyed! These things have been - and are - like my babies, so please don't be too cruel if you feel the need to criticize. :]

Thanks for reading! Reviews are lovely, lovely - although not entirely necessary.

_Fig_


End file.
